Assembly budget proposal restores $120 million to help protect New Yorkers with developmental disabilities

by jmaloni

Press release

Fri, Mar 8th 2013 02:55 pm

Assembly
Speaker Sheldon Silver and Mental Health Committee Chair Aileen Gunther announced
Friday that the Assembly's budget proposal would restore $120 million in
critical funding to the state Office of People with Developmental Disabilities
for services provided by nonprofit organizations that serve individuals with
developmental disabilities.

"As
a society we must ensure that we protect the most vulnerable among us," Silver
said. "These proposed cuts to programs that help individuals with
disabilities would result in severe hardship and diminished services that would
make it even more difficult for families and caregivers to obtain quality care
for their loved ones. Through the restorations we are proposing today, we will
ensure that New Yorkers with disabilities continue to receive the essential
services they need."

The
programs and services provided through non-profits under the auspices of OPWDD
help improve the quality of life for individuals with developmental
disabilities. These programs help to develop home, personal, behavioral,
recreational and social skills to ensure greater independence in their day-to-day
lives. In order to ensure these services are not compromised, the Assembly
proposes to restore $120 million to mitigate the governor's proposed 6 percent
rate reduction to nonprofit providers.

"The
nonprofit agencies providing services to the developmentally disabled and their
families are an integral part of our communities and the state's economy,"
Gunther said. "These cuts would have a catastrophic effect, including the
elimination of vital programs and thousands of layoffs of direct-care workers.
We have a responsibility to protect the most vulnerable among us, and I am
proud that we are living up to that responsibility."